Ernst & Young Announces Judges for Entrepreneur Of The Year Award 2011 in the UAE

Dubai, 10 March, 2012: Ernst & Young today announced the independent judging panel for its Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) Award 2011 in the UAE. The award recognizes and champions entrepreneurs who have built successful, growing and dynamic businesses and honor their entrepreneurial excellence. This year’s UAE finalists will be announced on 19 March 2012, with the winner named on 9 April 2012 at a gala dinner in Dubai.

The judging panel for the 2011 EOY awards consists of five industry luminaries. These include HE Huda Al Matroushi, Board Member - Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, Selim El Zyr, CEO - Rotana Group, Sujit Parhar, CEO - TABREED, Farhan Al Bastaki, Acting CEO - Siraj Finance and Thom Deen, CEO & Founder – Focus 360° Arabia.

Ashraf Abu-Sharkh, Partner and UAE Entrepreneur Of The Year Leader, Ernst & Young, said: “The EOY judges are highly successful, accomplished entrepreneurs and business leaders who provide inspiration for the next generation. We are very appreciative of their continuing commitment and support to nurturing entrepreneurs in the UAE. This year, they will pass critical judgment over a range of dynamic businesses. They will also single out entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in innovation and financial performance.”

Since its inception, the EOY program has honored the inspirational leadership of entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell, Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of FedEx, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Ruth Fertel of Ruth's Chris, Richard Schulze of Best Buy, Howard Lutnick of BGC Partners and Cantor Fitzgerald, and many more.

Now in its 26^th year, the EOY awards recognize outstanding entrepreneurs for their vision, innovation, courage, and leadership in building and growing successful businesses - businesses that influence the way we live, the products and services we depend on, and the economic vibrancy of our local communities and global markets. A truly international program, EOY covers over 140 cities in 50 countries worldwide. This year’s winner from the UAE will have an opportunity to be crowned the global winner of the EOY Awards in a ceremony in Monaco, in June, 2012.

“According to Ernst & Young’s quarterly Rapid-Growth Markets Forecast, 15 million young people will enter the workforce in Qatar, UAE, KSA and Egypt over the next decade. Promoting entrepreneurship and creating the right environment for new businesses is therefore of paramount importance to create employment. Providing exceptional entrepreneurs in the UAE with EOY’s global platform will not only showcase their own businesses and champion their successes, but will also encourage other budding entrepreneurs in the UAE to follow in the footsteps of these exceptional businessmen and women,” concluded  Ashraf.